Walking may help retain brain health

Wayne Puckett demonstrates his laser guided walker, October 30, 2013, in Clermont, Florida. Puckett, 48, has a form of Parkinson's disease, which causes him to have great difficulty walking. But a simple red laser attached to his walker helps him walk without hesitation, and keeps him up and moving. (Tom Benitez/Orlando Sentinel/MCT)

By marni jameson
mcclatchy-tribune

Published: December 3, 2013;Last modified: December 3, 2013 03:44PM

ORLANDO, Fla. — Everyone knows walking is good exercise, but it has another benefit: a daily 20-minute walk can also cut the risk of dementia by 40 percent, studies show.

Taking those findings a step further, neurologists at Jacksonville, Fla.’s Mayo Clinic are studying whether getting patients immobilized by disease to walk can also help stave off mental decline.

Dr. Jay Van Gerpen, a neurologist who specializes in gait, is recruiting Parkinson’s patients for a study to help them stay on their feet and retain brain health.

“Walking is a window to the brain,” said Van Gerpen. Regular walking not only helps preserve brain function in healthy people, but also protects against further damage caused by dementia, Alzheimer’s and diseases like Parkinson’s, a degenerative disease that causes tremors, motor impairment and cognitive decline.

When someone’s gait changes — steps get shorter or pace slows — that frequently indicates the brain is damaged. Thus, walking problems are common in those with dementia and Parkinson’s, because these conditions cause brain cells to die.

Walking not only slows that progression, but helps brain cells recover by forming new connections, Van Gerpen said.

The device attaches to walkers or canes and shoots a red laser beam in front of the person walking. Visual cues can help Parkinson’s patients walk without freezing. When patients focus on stepping over the line, they access the visual part of the brain, which bypasses the motor output area that isn’t working, Van Gerpen said.

The device was a game-changer for Wayne Puckett of Clermont, Calif. Four years ago, the 48-year-old started having tremors, followed by difficulty walking and memory problems.

Puckett said gait freezing was the biggest issue. “I would just come to a halt, especially at doorways,” he said. The former postal worker used to be able to memorize two zip codes worth of street addresses, but that ability was gone.

In March 2010, he went to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, where Dr. Van Gerpen diagnosed him with a form of Parkinson’s and gave him a Mobilaser that attaches to his walker.

‘It amazes me’

The first time Puckett used the Mobilaser, which is now distributed worldwide and costs $400, he couldn’t believe the difference. “I was almost walking like normal. I was in sheer amazement. It still amazes me.”

It helped in other ways, too.

“When I wasn’t able to move as much, I noticed my brain was much worse,” Puckett said. “With the laser I can move, get around, and am definitely able to concentrate better.”

In a 2012 study, Van Gerpen’s team studied a small group of Parkinson’s patients who had difficulty walking. By using the laser, they cut in half both the time it took them to walk a course, and the number of times they came to a halt, said Van Gerpen. His new study aims to prove that the laser helps patients walk every day, over months and years.